Common sense Voter ID not always so common

The governor’s reaction to the Voter ID ruling probably struck many Texans the same way: Doesn’t it make common sense for voters to show ID?

Gov. Rick Perry

A unanimous federal court today turned thumbs down on Texas’ Voter ID law because evidence indicated it would make it harder for some Texans to vote – particularly low income minorities.

“Chalk up another victory for fraud. Today, federal judges subverted the will of the people of Texas and undermined our effort to ensure fair and accurate elections,” Gov. Rick Perry said after the ruling. “The Obama Administration’s claim that it’s a burden to present a photo ID to vote simply defies common sense. I will continue to work with Attorney General Abbott to fight for the same right that other states already have to protect their elections.”

Fraud? More than 13 million Texas voters cast ballots in the 2008 and 2010 general elections. According to attorney general records, those 13 million ballots triggered only 4 allegations of “illegal voting” and only one actually resulted in an indictment.

Indiana and Georgia have Voter ID laws in place. Each of those states has a driver’s license office located in each county.
The federal judges noted that many Texans without a driver’s license don’t have easy access to a Department of Public Safety office to get a state-issued voter ID card. That’s because there are no DPS driver’s license offices in 81 Texas counties and 34 additional counties have severely restricted access because of part-time office hours.

Texas could have mounted a stronger defense if GOP leaders had come up with money and a directive for DPS to, at the least, bring mobile driver’s license offices to those counties on weekends to make it easier for voters to get an ID card.

The same can be said for those low income neighborhoods in the big cities that have no DPS driver’s license offices. Folks without a driver’s license would have to hitch a ride or find a bus to get to the other side of the city where they probably would have to wait in line at a DPS office. But, they probably would have to take time from work because those DPS offices are only open from 8-5 on weekdays (and 6 pm on Tuesdays).

The federal judges noted Texas had “failed to propose, much less adopt, any program for individuals who have to travel a significant distance to a DPS office, who have limited access to transportation, or who are unable to get to a DPS office during their hours of operation.”
The state would have had a stronger defense if it had directed DPS offices to roll mobile units into under-served areas to make it easier for Texans without a driver’s license to get the state ID card.

The court ruling was quite clear:

“Texas, seeking to implement its voter ID law, bears the burden of proof and must therefore show that SB 14 lacks retrogressive effect. But as we have found, everything Texas has submitted as affirmative evidence is unpersuasive, invalid, or both.

“Moreover, uncontested record evidence conclusively shows that the implicit costs of obtaining SB 14-qualifying ID will fall most heavily on the poor and that a disproportionately high percentage of African Americans and Hispanics in Texas live in poverty. We therefore conclude that SB 14 is likely to lead to “retrogression in the position of racial minorities with respect to their effective exercise of the electoral franchise.”

Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio

President Johnson pushed the Texas Voting Rights Act, which Congress passed in 1965. Congress has reauthorized the Voting Rights Act several times since then, most recently during the George W. Bush Administration when it passed unanimously in the U. S. Senate and on a 390-33 vote in the U.S. House.

Texas GOP leaders should stop fighting minority Texans on civil rights, said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.
“This is not a partisan issue. This is a basic civil right,” he said.
Considering Texas’ history of discrimination against minority voters, Martinez Fischer lamented that “we are still deciding who can vote and who cannot vote in 2012.”